I suspect some friends have noticed that I’m not around as much in Second Life in recent weeks. I haven’t been very active as a blogger either.

For friends who may find what I’m about to say surprising, let me say that my second life ha been increasingly a struggle for over a year. I’ve enjoyed being Yordie Sands and while I’ll always be Yordie Sands, it’s time for her to say goodbye.

Yesterday, I tried on some Deep Sea Diving gearand headed down to a fascinating dive region.I had the idea of adding a steampunktour to Yordie’s Excellent Adventures.

Maybe I’ve tried to do too many things in my second life. Maybe I’ve experienced too many disappointments. Maybe I keep too much bottled up inside… maybe, maybe, maybe. I’ve haven’t shared my true feelings except with my best friend LeLe. She probably has a better idea of what why I’m leaving than I do.

Regardless of any feelings I have, I want to thank the people who have accepted me as a friend. In the past when I’ve left SL for awhile, I’ve always said I’d be back but this time is goodbye. I will miss you.

This blog has been part of my Second Life adventure and its very title has been a theme for me. Sadly, this will be the final post for this blog.

Thank you to the readers of this blog, this journal of my virtual fantasy life.

42 Responses to Time To Say Goodbye

omg Yordie :((( Strangely enough i have the same feelings about my virtual life….I was actually thinking of blogging a similar posting… Love you my friend and I will not forget you. You made my virtual life richer and more exciting with your blog and I will miss your comments in my blog :´(

Squishiehuggs and I will not give up hope that i will hear from you again 1 day ❤

Hi Mera… Thanks for sharing your understanding. Right now I need to look ahead and find a new directions, but I’ll be checking on your blog to follow your adventures too. And huggy-squishies to you… Yordie

Well I can’t say I’m surprised, I saw this day coming a while back because your love affair with SL seemed to mirror my own so closely that at times it was spooky!

For what it’s worth, I think you are doing the right thing. The fact you recently set up an adventurer’s club shows the reason you are leaving – it was the same with me too. You are an adventurer and you need to keep exploring and whilst you haven’t seen all of SL you have seen all it has to offer and your wanderlust demands you move on and explore new worlds.

It’s not easy at first. The sense of loss is actually quite hard to bear at times, but it gets better over time and when you find a new world to fall in love with… well it’s magical 🙂

Don’t stop being Yordie and don’t stop this blog – Yordie is you & you are more than your life in SL. Keep reporting from your travels!

You are very right-on when you point to the adventurer in me. And since you pointed to this, you’ll probably appreciate how disappointed I’ve been with one of a focal points of my adventures, the Blake Sea, has been disrupted by problems with region crossings again and again. I didn’t want to comment on this in my final post though and I won’t rant on about it here.

As for my love affair with SL, I think it was severely damaged when I broke up with my last partner. Without getting into details, the part of me that is an adventurer flourished with him. Our combined energy was enough to enable us to explore and create adventure. Since then, I haven’t been able to regain whatever it was we had.

Maybe, after taking a look at my RL and SL, I’ll find my way to some new game, somewhere. And if I do that, then maybe I can become Yordie in a new game, but if I do anything in SL I won’t be Yordie again.

Thanks for all your insights both today and in the past. You are a true adventurer as well! Hugs

Hiya. You know, the funny thing about me leaving SL was that after so many rants and rages, so many explosions of disappointment that when OK left it was a relief. I no longer had to care about all the things that had upset me for so long – it was very, very liberating 🙂

Hi Hi HB… I think i know what you mean, but right now this breaking away feels like i’m dying inside. I worked hard to accomplish the little assortment of things I accomplished and now I’m just walking away. Believe me, I’m already for the day whtn that relief and liberation finally arrives.

Hi Pearl… I’m glad we got to know each other, however briefly. I’ll figure out where I’m going, but I need to spread my time and energy more wisely in the future. I’ll visit your blog too. So, in a sense, it’s not really goodbye.

Hi Van… I’m sorry to drop this news on everyone this way, but I just needed to make my break from SL. You are, without a doubt, someone I’d recognize in real life by nothing more than the aura surrounding you. In so many ways, I feel connected to you. I need to sortout all the projects I’m buried under right now, but maybe I should write one last post for iRez? Love you… Yordie

I am soooooo going to miss you! Thank you for everything you brought to the SecondLives of others kiddo, I’m very glad we met.
Whatever you do – be happy and if you change your mind and come back, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.
*hugs*

Hi Honour… I wish we’d been able to hangout a bit in SL, but I feel as though I know you from your blogs. I’ve just reached a point with SL and my blogging where I need to sort things out. I’m taking the “Never say never” axiom seriously, but I think I’ll never find breathing space as Yordie again. as soon as i have a sense of direction, I’ll be by to visit your blog again. So it’s a completely goodbye. Hugs

I guessed that something like this was on the cards when your blog entries started to slow down but I will agree with Headburro, you must not give up on Yordie, she is a vital part of you.

Rather than a goodbye, take a break..and then go exploring. I did. When I feel the need to play with prims there is an AlexHayden Junibalya on Inworldz who fulfills that role (SL AlexHayden will be wiped from the system as soon as I have finished following the path Lalo set out in his ‘Seconderth’ series). There is also an AlexHayden Junibalya on Kitely when I feel the urge to build on the scale of a region and one who gets dusted off from time to time to play on Open Sim. I never in a million years thought I would enjoy playing a MMORPG yet Star Trek Online has lured me in and now in the ranks of Starfleet there is an Alexander Hayden. That has opened the doors to me of the possibility of further MMORPG such as the Elder Scrolls Online or Guild Wars or maybe Lord of the Rings Online (I did say ‘maybe’ Headburro..). There is Cloud Party (as Mera has discovered via Facebook and which I may go explore) or Minecraft (as enjoyed by Antfarm Sr and Jr).

The point I am making (badly) is that there are always possibilities ..and if and when you are ready to go looking for them you can bet your sweet potato that there will be plenty of folks out there to offer support and ready to read your new tales.

Hi Alex… I remember when you broke away form SEcond Life. It was a very sad and unsettling occassion. I think I saw even then that this might be where I was headed too. It’s too soon for me to think about other games, but I’m already registered on about 10 grids and two other games (STO is one) as Yordie Sands. That’s going to be hard to sort out, so I won’t say never to Yordie but I need to do a lot of thinking. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You probably see me dropping by your blog again when i sort out my RL & SL projects and issues. Kind regards.. Yordie

That is why you need a break from it. When I deep sixed the blog last year I was tired, fed up with the constant bickering in chat, harrassment from griefers and utterly disheartened with Second Life as a whole, yet it still was a huge emotional wrench packing my Inventory into cubes and walking away. What you are feeling is perfectly natural..so don’t fight it.

And once again I’ll nod my head in agreement with Headburro re : relief and liberation. It will come. 🙂

I think the worst of it will be friendships lost. I know some will feel betrayed but I have no choice. I didn’t realize how fast I was falling till I started this blog post. There’s still a lot further to fall. I won’t delete the blogs though. Thanks again, Alex.

Yordie, I am sorry that you have decided to leave SL. I’m a new reader of your blog (and thank you very kindly for taking the time to comment on mine), but it is obvious with every post that you are a person of intelligence and character. I’m sorry for whatever it was that is causing you to leave, and doubly sorry that we never met inworld.

Late last year I was in the same general area as you are now: trying to remember the previous beauty and newness of Second Life, wondering how I could spend time productively inworld, and not understanding whether logging on was really entertainment or merely repeating a familiar habit, like smoking. I was offline for longer and longer, and finally I didn’t log in for a week, and no one seemed to notice. Then earlier this year, a friend invited me to go out dancing with some other friends, and I Met Someone Special (leading caps intentional). This lovely lady has changed my lives (RL and SL) forever, and both of us are happier than we have been in years. If not for Second Life and the kindness of friends, she would be a stranger to me still. So I have come to realize that SL is not about duties and responsibilities, or gadgets and goodies, or drama and hate and worry. SL is about people, all these fine and wonderful people who we may never meet in the real world but who have the ability to enrich and uplift us in the land of pixels. I am back in SL every day now, and can’t wait to get to that login screen so I can spend as much time as possible with the lady and the friends that I love.

I’ve been sending my friends a link to a website I discovered recently, http://www.livelifehappy.com. The place contains a supertanker full of wisdom in the form of sayings written on posters. It’s worth a look, and a trip through a few of the 555 pages of sayings. The first two sayings on the site today seem to apply to your blog post here: 1.) Learn to let go. Not everyone in your life is meant to stay forever. 2.) Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. The biggest lesson I’ve learned from all the sayings on that site is that life is too short to keep hanging around with people and situations that make you unhappy. Changing the people or the situations or both can be a recipe for continued enjoyment without continued unhappiness.

Not trying to talk you into or out of anything, just providing some food for thought. Take care, and maybe we will meet some day after all.

Hi Hal.. thank you for your thoughtful comments. The only thing I know for sure right now is that I need time away from Second Life. You point out that “Quitting lasts forever” and I can assure you that is a very sad consequece to me. I have many things to ponder in the coming weeks. Kind regards, Yordie

Yordie, you are one of the people I met in SL that made it “real” for me in terms of adding value – a joy and a pleasure to know across the world there are people like you. It made RL better, more interesting, and somehow more accessible and welcoming allowing me to be a little more self-confident, more courageous, more willing to try some of these make believe adventures in RL and that as been a great blessing. The most wonderful thing about SL has been seeing how much better people really are when not concerned about what their families, friends, elected officials, religious leaders, etc. think. Insulated by its anonymity people can indeed be ridiculous but they are also generous, tolerant, accepting, loving, and supportive of perfect strangers…what a revelation that has been! What hope it brings for meeting the challenges of RL. I hope you take that with you and remember that all your friends here are real and still exist:) Go out there armed with all the things that made you such a great friend to us – more friends and adventures await! (but if you ever want to chat with old friends, RL Romie’s at romvella@gmail.com😉 Be safe!
P.S. BTW I have been there, done that – when involvement in something becomes too consuming sometimes the only solution is to walk away…I never had any regrets;)

Although not totally unexpected, somehow the news took me by surprise, dear Yordie. As much as I understand and respect it, and I do understand how SL can become too claustrophobic at times, seeing you go was a blow to the stomach. From being just a name, a blog author, a tracer of magic paths in SL, you became one of those few people I have a connection with and deep respect. We don’t talk every day and our contact is mostly through blogging and a bit of tweeting, but a few months ago, when I asked to add you to my friends’ list in SL, you said “I thought we were already friends!” And indeed we were!  There is this unspoken link between us that transformed empathy into sharing an understanding of what life throws our way. You have been unconditionally supportive of my writing and I am so grateful to you for that. It shows how special a person you are, generously encouraging me and publicly showing your support. It’s an uninspired cliché to say that life is to be shared, but I cannot find any other way to ask you not to disappear completely. Even if not in the virtual worlds many of us visit, then in the blogosphere, even if not about anything in particular, then about life in general. I strongly believe that you have so much to share, regardless of the topic. We all need a break every now and then. But regardless of anything, whichever becomes your path, I am here to support you, (((Yordie))). Love, Lizzie.

Hi Lizzie… thank you for your kind words and yes, we are friends. Here’ the thing I’m discover as more and more people give me their insights, Yordie Sands of Second Life may be gone forever but Yordie the blogger/writer might be something I don’t want to delete from my life.

I’ve been able to supportive of your writing because it is great work and has inspired me, but also because i have created a social network to push my support out to others in the world. It took a lot of work to create that network and shouldn’t be tossed out without more thought.

Your comments and the comments of others weigh heavily on me right now. I beleive I might be able to separate Yordie of SL, from Yordie the blogger. Right now though, I am still trying to loose the mental baggage SL Yordie has built up over the years.

Hello Yordie,
This is the first time I’ve come across your blog and I wanted to thank you for sharing yourself with the digital world. I completely understand how you are feeling now, I’ve been there more than a few times. Infact, it was a reason I left my first avatar. The point of writing is to thank you for sharing your experiences and for being the final push for starting my very own blog. While you are leaving, I’m dredging up all my old sl experiences, the good, the bad, and the very ugly and telling all the tales associated with all my experiences. I’m so excited to do it, and while right now, you are not in a place of being able to look back and smile, my bad experiences were so long ago that I can do that. I wish you the most adventure in your future experiences and I hope it doesn’t take too long for you to smile at this one. If you get bored, perhaps you could snicker at my old adventures. =)

Hi Kimi… I think journaling is a great practice for many people. I believe that it’s harder to remember things that happened in Second Life than in real life, so keeping a journal also helps jog your memory. The only thing I’d suggest when writing about bad experiences is to tone things down. Gook luck with your blogging. Kind regards, Yordie

I’ve recently contemplated leaving myself so I can understand how you feel. But I’m glad to see in your recent post that you’ve decided to stay as writer. Your generosity and friendship will be dearly missed inworld however. Wherever life takes you, I hope it treats you well. ❤

Thanks Berry… I actually wondered how you manage Berry’s second life. I’ve learned there are many who confront leaving. You’ve been one of my heros and You are an amazing woman. I’ll miss you too. Hugs ❤